6 Fun Ways to Teach Kids About the World Cup

Written By: The Good and the Beautiful Published On: June 25, 2026

Make this year’s men’s FIFA World Cup tournament an unforgettable educational experience for your kids, one filled with sports, fun, and learning! Read on to learn more about the sport of soccer and how to use the exciting game of “football” (as most of the world calls it) as part of any school subject. Then download our FREE soccer ball coloring page!

Six Fun Ways to Teach Kids Using the FIFA World Cup

Here are our 6 favorite ways to make watching the FIFA World Cup as a family a memorable educational experience! Read on for activity ideas, fun facts, and more.

Math: Soccer by the Numbers

Your family’s favorite teams are ready to play, and it’s time to crunch some numbers! Here are a few ideas for involving math in your World Cup watching.

Find or create a family or individual bracket system: Follow how the teams are performing and predict who will win the World Cup! This activity integrates math and strategy in a fun real-life situation. Your children will learn about ratios, probability, elimination, and how bracket-style tournaments work.
Be the scorekeeper: Make a decorative scoreboard out of anything you have on hand (an old cardboard box, a large dry erase board, etc.) and tally up the goals as you watch the games (or matches).
Study a favorite team’s or player’s statistics: How many possessions, corner kicks, or offsides do they average per game? What is their pass completion percentage? How many goals do they score on average per game? Guide your children through using the internet to research these numbers (and more).
Learn about the numbers used in soccer: World Cup games use a size 5 ball. Find the circumference, diameter, and weight of the ball. What are the dimensions of a soccer field (or pitch)? How many players are on the field during a game? How many players are there per team? Help your children to find the answers and make an informative visual poster to reference as you watch.

Geography: Countries and Cultures

Locate the countries of teams on a map or globe. Have your children pick one of the soccer matches happening that day and learn more about one (or both) of the countries playing in that game.

Fun Ways to Learn About Geography with the World Cup

⚽ Learn fun facts about a team’s country.

⚽ Read about some of that country’s historical events.

⚽ Listen to music or a story told in the country’s national language.

⚽ Cook a simple dish from your selected country.

⚽ Look up the weather of your selected country. How does it compare to your weather at home?

⚽ Talk about how the climate and terrain of your chosen country might affect how soccer players train.

⚽ Root for the country your ancestors are from and talk about family cultures and traditions.

Physical Education: Practicing and Playing Soccer

It’s time to grab a soccer ball and get moving! Below are some of our favorite soccer drills and games.

Wall Ball Drills

Have your children kick a soccer ball against a wall. When the ball bounces off the wall and returns to them, instruct them to control it and kick it back to the wall. Time how long they can keep it up, or count how many kicks they can make in a row! This strengthens motor skills and kicking accuracy, and provides excellent exercise.

Cone Weaving

Perform cone-weaving drills by having your children kick or weave balls through soccer cones. The closer the cones, the harder the drills! This develops motor skills and improves aim.

Red Light, Green Light

For this game, mark a start and finish line at each end of the yard. Line your children up at the starting line and place a ball at each child’s feet. Each child dribbles their ball toward the finish line. But here’s the catch—they can only move when you call out “green light”; they (and their balls) must stop moving when you call out “red light!” If you catch anyone moving during a “red light,” they must return to the starting line. This game improves listening, reaction, and ball control skills.

Play a Traditional Soccer Game

As a family, invite your friends and neighbors to join in for a backyard soccer game. If desired, create teams and custom jerseys!

World Cup Arts and Crafts

Now that your children have exercised their bodies, it’s time to exercise their creative minds!

Here are some of our favorite World Cup-themed crafts:

Pick a few countries and make their flags out of colored craft paper.
Design your own soccer jerseys! You could create a family jersey together or allow each child to make their own individual jerseys.
Construct a mini soccer field using an old shoe box and paint. Crumple a piece of scrap paper or find a small ball and use your fingers to “kick” the ball across the mini field.
Craft a World Cup trophy with clay, play dough, or another moldable material.
Design a soccer ball—either our FREE soccer ball coloring page or a real soccer ball! If decorating a real soccer ball, use permanent markers and allow the ink to “cure” for 24-hours before using the ball to prevent smudging.

History of the FIFA World Cup

What better way to honor and celebrate this epic tournament than by learning about and researching the history of the FIFA World Cup?

Use our World Cup trivia facts below to learn about the tournament or to quiz your kids on their soccer knowledge!

Then dig a little deeper with research of your own! Check out library books about soccer for more fun learning. (See our book recommendations below.)

FIFA World Cup History Trivia FAQs

Ready to test your knowledge of the FIFA World Cup? Read the following questions as a soccer history lesson or use the trivia for a friendly competition with your kids!

How many FIFA World Cup tournaments have there been?

There have been 23 tournaments of the men’s FIFA World Cup, with the first tournament held in 1930.

How often is the FIFA World Cup held?

The men’s FIFA World Cup tournament is held every four years. However, there was a break in the tournament in the 1940s during World War II.

How do teams qualify for the FIFA World Cup tournament?

National soccer teams qualify for the FIFA World Cup through multi-year regional tournaments organized by FIFA’s six continental confederations. Hopeful teams must advance through group stages, and sometimes playoffs, to secure their spot in the FIFA World Cup. Prior to 2026 only 32 national teams could qualify for the World Cup. But beginning with the 2026 tournament, and all future tournaments, the FIFA World Cup has expanded to feature 48 teams.

How does the FIFA World Cup work?

Forty-eight national teams are divided into 12 groups of four teams each. Each team plays the other teams within their group. A win earns a team three points while draws earn one point. The top two teams with the highest points in each group move on to the next round. There are official rules for determining group winners in case of ties.

Quarter-finals followed by semi-final rounds determine who moves on to the Bronze match, where the third place winner will be determined. After a month of playoff games, the final match is played to determine the first- and second-place winners. In total 104 soccer games are played during the international tournament.

Where have the FIFA World Cup tournaments been held?

The men’s FIFA World Cup tournament has been held in countries all over the world: North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. The 2026 FIFA World Cup is being hosted by Canada, Mexico, and the United States—the first time the cup has been hosted by three countries!

What does “FIFA” stand for?

“FIFA” stands for “Fédération Internationale de Football Association,” which translates from French to English as the “International Federation of Association Football.”

Which country won the first-ever men’s FIFA World Cup?

The first country to win the FIFA World Cup was Uruguay in 1930.

What is the Jules Rimet trophy, and what is the history behind it?

The first FIFA World Cup trophy was designed after the ancient Greek goddess of victory named Nike. The gold-plated sterling silver trophy named Victory was designed by French sculptor Abel Lafleur. It was later renamed the Jules Rimet trophy after the FIFA President during the inaugural 1930 tournament.

The coveted trophy spent decades traveling every four years. In 1966 it was stolen while on public display but was later dug up in a bush by a nosy dog named Pickles in South London. In 1970 three-time FIFA World Cup winner Brazil took ownership of the Jules Rimet. However, the trophy was stolen once again in 1983, never to be seen again.

The current FIFA World Cup trophy, introduced in 1974, can never be permanently won. Champion teams of the Cup now receive a bronze replica of the statue, while the gold original is returned to FIFA headquarters each year.

What does the FIFA World Cup trophy look like? Who designed it?

The current FIFA World Cup trophy was designed by Silvio Gazzaniga, an Italian artist. The trophy is a gold statue of two people holding up the world, symbolizing international unity.

Unlike the original FIFA trophy, which traveled from country to country with the winning team, the champions hold the current official trophy for photo ops at the end of the tournament, but receive replica trophies to take home.

Do only Americans call the sport “soccer”? Do all other countries besides the US call it “football”?

No, many other countries use the sport name “soccer,” including Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Ireland, and South Africa.

Which came first: soccer or American football?

The modern sport of soccer began in England in the mid-1800s. Ancient versions of the sport have been tied to Mesoamerica and China. American football began at the end of the nineteenth century and was modeled after a combination of soccer and rugby.

The Final Match

You’ve learned all about the FIFA World Cup. When it’s time to watch the final match, combine all your lessons up to this point and apply them to the final game!